[Stoat]

This is astonishing, particularly because it involves volunteers and quite likely a very minimal amount of Government funds. It sounds like a wonderful program that helps people to get closer to nature. Such a shame that politics have to invade this situation.

[Stoat]

Race ping

[Texas_Jarhead]

some are just more equal than others I guess

[Petronski]

Shameful or shameless? I can't decide, perhaps both in their own sense. Sickening, nonetheless.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Unbelievable. The world has officially gone nuts.

[snarks_when_bored]

Prison rules apply outside prison, too:  when one group bends over, the other group gets ideas.

[shibumi]

I don't want to belabor the obvious, but I wonder if anyone has considered that perhaps young, urban ethnics (whoever the hell they are) just don't care about nature walks?

[GOPcapitalist]

The truly bizarre thing about this decision is that, as of the most recent census, only 2% of the UK's population is black and 4% asian - the only two ethnic groups other than white that have more than a couple tenths of a percent of the country's population.

Put another way, they're scrapping the walks because they draw more people from a demographic that makes up about 93% of the British population (whites) than they do from all other groups, which make up something around 7% of the population combined!

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

Another ranger, Clive Langley, said: "This is an unbelievable way to manage a national park."

Indeed! The people managing the parks are beyond stupid. Are middle-class white people showing up for your walks? Guess what, you can CHARGE these people $5 or two pounds apiece or whatever for the walks, and fund all your other precious programs with the proceeds!

Oh, but I forgot, Europeans get uncomfortable if they might turn a profit....

[Zeppelin]

so next will they be outlawing NASCAR and country music? how about 5 star hotels? Or hockey and golf?

Ridiculous.

[Lancey Howard]

LMAO!!!
People get exactly the government they deserve.
Watch the Brits re-elect the same animals who are responsible for this disgrace.

[GeronL]

I could only imagine some of the complaints from the new 'target' groups 'You white people crazy, there ain't no bus over there, you expect me to sleep outside?? That'll get you killed where I come from. Oh and I guess you expect us to push around those folks in the wheelchairs too huh??'

[Winniesboy]

I draw a rather different and more fundamental conlusion from this story. It certainly isn't a 'wonderful program'. One of the glories of hillwalking in the Lake District, and the other English, Welsh and Scottish mountain areas (and make no mistake it is a truly glorious activity) is the freedom to dicover it by yourself. This includes finding out the hard way about navigation, mountain weather and the other skills you need to thrive in the hills. Turning hillwalking into a led, organised and instructed activity misses a large part of the point. And if you do need advice there's no shortage of outdoor activity magazines and guidebooks on the shelves even of small newsagents in the mountain areas.

That said, perhaps surprisingly, the national parks in England and Wales (Scotland has only just openened its first national park) have traditionally been rather less bureaucratised and regulated than their US and Canadian equivalents, at least on access issues. What we don't have in the UK national parks is the whole business of access by permit to sensitive areas, policed by the all-powerful Park Ranger, or the channelling of walkers into a limited number of designated 'trails', restrictions on wild camping etc etc that you tend to find in some of the North American parks.

As for the more specific theme of this story, it is true that you don't see many black faces in the hills, which is a shame: but if this is to change, it's not a change that can ever be organised into being through some well-intentioned programme of social engineering.

[finnigan2]

The key to the whole piece is in the line, "The national park's authority said it would be able to meet Government targets to attract minority groups and attract more funding."
In other words, the authority is getting rid of the free volunteers so they can be eligible for government money to pay guides, many of whom I suspect will turn out to be relatives or friends of the members of the authority.

[shhrubbery!]

Derek Tunstall, the former chairman of the Lake District Voluntary Rangers, said it was impossible to force people to visit the park just to meet Government targets.

Though I sympathize completely with Mr. Tunstall, he may be wrong: The next step IS for the gummint to "force people to visit the park just to meet Government targets."

Why not? The gummint will confiscate taxpayers' money to fund social programs for the express purpose of gathering "urban children" and disabled people, and busing them to the d*mn parks, whether the children and disabled like it or not!

The gummint will call these programs "The Fresh Air for Everyone Act," or some such thing. In fact, I'd be surprised if such programs didn't exist already.

[hellinahandcart]

"Our research shows that the majority who do the walks are white middle-class, middle-aged people.

Ah. So now the minority who are not white, middle-class, and middle-aged won't get the guided walks either. That makes perfect sense.

(insert sound of skull exploding)

[Teacher317]

"Our research shows that the majority who do the walks are white middle-class, middle-aged people."

The ultimate irony would be if 20% of their walkers were black. disproportionately favoring blacks, who only comprose 14% of the population... and yet the close the program since 80% of the walkers were white.

(By the way, how do they know which whites were Hispanic and non-Hispanic/minority whites?)

[Guillermo]

I really love "The Onion!"

Thanks for posting!

[Polyxene]

Ah, socialism, er, communism!! Ain't it great?? George Orwell would be proud!

[Stoat]

UPDATE

Telegraph News Threatened Lake District rangers granted a reprieve

Threatened Lake District rangers granted a reprieve
By John Crowley
(Filed: 05/01/2005)

More than 100 Lake District volunteer rangers won a reprieve yesterday when the park authority refused to back a proposal to axe the free guided walks they provide on the fells.

The Telegraph disclosed on Monday that the scenic walks and a 900-event programme were to be scrapped because they attracted too many "white, middle-class, middle-aged people".

	Derek Tunstall: ‘The fight goes on’

Paul Tiplady, a National Park officer, said that attracting ethnic minorities, inner-city children and the disabled to the area would bring further funding.

But a quarterly meeting of the authority said it could not ratify a proposal submitted by a sub-committee. A final decision on a new three-year strategy will be made on Feb 7.

The rangers welcomed the announcement as a victory because the authority had been expected to rubber-stamp the proposal.

Clive Langley, 60, a ranger, said: "This is the best possible decision."

Rangers say the authority has become "obsessed" with hitting Government targets. Among other threatened activities are talks, slide shows and children's farm visits run by 300 volunteers.

Derek Tunstall, 51, a former chairman of the Lake District Voluntary Rangers, said: "We have been overwhelmed with messages of support since The Daily Telegraph report. Common sense has now prevailed. We have won a battle but the fight goes on."

Some of the authority's 25 members said the rangers had not been properly consulted.

One, Maureen Colquhoun, a former Labour MP, told the meeting: "We should never accept political correctness."

She added later: "We tend to say all the right things and do all the wrong things. The rangers have done wonderful work for 50 years and have been very badly treated."

Mick Casey, a spokesman for the authority, said: "The recommendation has not been passed, nor has it been rejected. Members felt they did not have enough time to look at all the information."

 

3 January 2005: Lakeland walkers 'wrong colour'